There are many different kinds of landmines being used in the world. The shock wave created by the main charge of the landmine is used to deliver damage to the victim. In a fragmentation mine, the shock wave is harnessed to shatter the casing of the mine and the detonation gasses immediately behind the shock wave propel the fragmentation into the victim. In a blast mine, the shock wave shatters the bone, ruptures the blood vessels, and tears the soft tissue of a victim and the extremely hot and high-pressure gasses of the detonation products rip apart the remainder of the victim's appendage. This is then followed by high velocity ejecta, which could be soil, pebbles, or fragmentation, which is then hurled into the victim's open wound.
The safest way to approach a mine is in the prone position, and checking the ground with a long probe. This is because the power of a landmine dissipates quickly, and the father away one is, the safer one is. The other reason that the prone position is the best has to do with the fact that the landmine is buried. When it explodes, the explosion has more upward power than outward power, because air offers less resistance than earth. However, in the case of accidental detonation, the foot of the deminer is directly above the explosion. For protection of deminers from accidental detonation, there are three types of protective footwear configurations. The first configuration is a “mattress” that spreads the weight of the deminer over a sufficient area, so that there is not enough pressure on the ground to trigger the mine. This system is not widely used because it offers very little traction to deminers, and they would rather not fall onto a minefield. The second configuration is called the Spider Boot developed by Med-Eng systems in Canada. It supports the wearer's weight on four long legs that increase the standoff distance 15-20 cm. For this reason, the spider boot offers very good protection, and has been used for humanitarian deminers. However, this system is not practical for military deminers, because these shoes are awkward to walk in, and military deminers must be able to operate at 20 feet per minute and combat troops must move at a faster pace. The third system uses blast attenuating materials and designs incorporated into the soles of boots to protect against the blast waves. There are several variations of this concept including Wellco Enterprises “Blast Boot” and their “Blast Overboot”. These boots offer the traction and mobility needed by military deminers, but do not offer as much protection as the Spider Boot.
A typical blast wave attenuator made by Wellco Enterprises consists of a carbon steel V-shape deflector, a metal honeycomb (steel or aluminum) that is machined to fit inside the cavity of the V-shape deflector, and a steel sheet covering the honeycomb core. The honeycomb and the entire blast wave attenuator weigh 34.4 gm and 155.5 gm, respectively see, for example FIG. 6 attached hereto.
Today it is estimated that there are 110 million active Anti-Personnel (AP) mines in the world. These weapons remain active for decades after a military conflict and are responsible for killing or maiming up to 500 people a week. Most of the time, a deminer is aware of the landmine, and can take his own precautions, such as increasing the standoff distance to a point where his Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE) will be effective. However, the largest threat to a deminer is accidentally stepping on a mine of which he was unaware. This places his foot and his leg in almost direct contact with the explosion. At such a close proximity, the current blast protective footwear can only prevent the loss of his leg at minimal charge masses. Other options for protection are available, but they suffer from either extremely poor traction or greatly reduced mobility. Humanitarian/civilian deminers can afford to sacrifice their mobility for significantly improved protection. However, military deminers operate at 20 feet per minute and combat troops must operate at an even faster pace. There thus remains a continuing need for protective equipment that increases the survival rate and decreases the severity of harm to human deminers.
There therefore remains a need for blast boots, particularly for military applications that provide the desired blast protection while retaining the mobility required by military deminers.